Then wept she and her children, and the handmaidens heard them: so they came in to them and found them weeping, but saw not Hasan with them; wherefore they wept for ruth of them and damned Queen Nur al-Huda. Then Hasan took patience till night came on and her guards had gone to their sleeping-places, when he arose and girded his waist; then went up to her and, loosing her kissed her on the head and between the eyes and pressed her to his bosom, saying, "How long have we wearied for our mother-land and for reunion there! Is this our meeting in sleep, or on wake?" Then he took up the elder boy and she took up the younger and they went forth the palace; and Allah veiled them with the veil of His protection, so that they came safe to the outer gate which closed the entrance to the Queen's Serraglio. But finding it locked from without, Hasan said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Verily we are Allah's and unto Him shall we return!" With this they despaired of escape and Hasan beat hand upon hand, saying, "O Dispeller of dolours! Indeed, I had bethought me of every thing and considered its conclusion but this; and now, when it is daybreak, they will take us, and what device have we in this case?" And he recited the following two couplets,[FN#171] "Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, whenas the days were fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee might bring. The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wast deceived by them, For in the peace of night is born full many a troublous thing." Then Hasan wept and his wife wept for his weeping and for the abasement she had suffered and the cruelties of Time and Fortune, "Baulks me my Fate as tho' she were my foe; * Each day she showeth me new cark and care: Fate, when I aim at good, brings clear reverse, * And lets foul morrow wait on day that's fair." And also these, "Irks me my Fate and clean unknows that I * Of my high worth her shifts and shafts despise. She nights parading what ill-will she works: * I night parading Patience to her eyes."